Tie-tamping machine.



J. -ILIFP.

TIE TAMPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION IILED FEB. 26, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

4 SHEETS--8HBET1.

J. ILIPR TIE TAMPING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED rmaas, 1910.

Iaiiia:

n wfi M abbomlm THE momzls ps-rss's cm, wnsnmcrou, 1:. c.

J. ILIFF.

TIE TAMPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

4 BHEETS-SHEET 3.

THE NORRIS PETERS co., WASHINGTON oc.

J. ILIPF.

TIE TAMPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 312.25, 1910,

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

1m: uomus PETERS 50., wAsumcTou, Dxc.

JOHN ILIFF, OF'IVIADISON, WISCONSIN.

TIE-TAMPING MACHINE.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN Inner, a citizen of the United States, residing at Madison, in the county of Dane and State of Visconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tie-Tamping Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a tie tamping machine and more particularly to improve ments in the machine disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 893,505, granted to me July 14, 1908.

The invention has for one of its objects to provide improvements in the mechanism for raising and lowering tampers to and from set position and for holding any pair of tampers out. of operation whenever necessity requires.

Another object of the invention is to improve the mechanism for adjusting the tampers to ties of different widths.

With these objects in View and. others as will appear as the description proceeds the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention: Figure l is a perspective view of the top portion of the tamping machine showing the improvements embodied therein. Fig. is a vertical transverse sectional view of the machine. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the tamper raising and lowering means. Fig. a is a sectional view' of the mechanism for adjusting oppositely disposed tampers inwardly or outwardly to operate on ties of different widths. Fig. is a plan view of the latch device of the mechanism for laterally adjusting the tampers. Fig. (3 is a sectional view on line 66, Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view on line 77, Fig.

Similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings A designates the car of the machine whichis supported on the rails l of a track the ties of which are being tamped and on the ear is a car- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 25, 1910.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

Serial No. 545,984.

transversely of the track so that the tampers will progressively tamp the ballast along opposite sides of the tie throughout its length, the mechanism for moving the carriage back and forth for this purpose being omitted from the present case as it forms no part of the invention and reference is to be had to the Letters Patent. hereinbefore ref-erred to for an understanding of the carriage operatmg means.

On the carriage B are a plurality of pairs of tampers 2, the tampers of each pair being oppositely disposed so as to act on opposite sides of the tie or in other words the tampers are arranged in two sets of live each and one set tamps the ballast at one side of the tie and the other set tamps the ballast at the opposite side. In Fig. 1 the upper extremities of the rods or shanks 3 of one set of tampers are shown, the other set being broken away. Each pair of tampers is connected by links 3 to the lower end of a post 4 secured to and forming a part of the carriage B and each post is provided at opposite sides with dove-tail guide-ways 5 and in each guide-way is a dove-tail slide 6 to move vertically therein. The lower end of each slide 6 is connected by a link 7 with one of the tampers 2 and consequently as the slide moves upwardly the tamper is raised. On the slides 6 are laterally proj ecting pins or projections 8 with which cam arms 9 on a rotary shaft 10 engage for raising the slides and hence, lifting the tampers whereby the springs 11 of the latter are placed under tension so as to cause the downward tamping stroke as soon as the cam arms 9 pass from under the slide pins 8. The springs 11 surround the shanks 3 of the tampers and their lower ends bear against collars 12 of the latter and their upper ends bear against the members 13 on the carriage. The slides 6 have longitudinal slots 14 which register with a longitudinal slot 15 in the guide post t in which the slides move. These slots 14 are located at the upper ends of the slides 6 and in this respect they differ from the slides in the patented construction referred to. The slides for each pair of tampers are adapted to be raised or lowered by a link 16 that has its lower end provided with a pin 17 which extends through the slots 14: of both slides and through the slot 15 of the post guiding such slides and the upper end of the link 16 is connected with a lever 18 which is fulcrumed on a horizontal rod or bar 19 supported 011 the upper ends of the posts 1, there being one lever 18 for each pair of oppositely disposed tampers. The object of arranging the slots 16 in the upper ends of the slides is that the pin 17 will never be in the path of the tamper actuating cams 19 no matter in what position the slides 6 may be and by reason of this the tampers can be raised or lowered to their limit while the cam shaft 10 continues to rotate and thus it is never necessary to stop the machine to raise or lower the tampers.

The tampers are adapted to be raised or lowered together by a swinging frame or lever C which consists of end and intermediate arms 20 secured to the ends of the rod 19 and on the outer extremities of these arms is a connecting bar 21. The individual levers 18 are of such length that their outer ends can rest on the connecting bar or handle 21 of the lever G and they will be held on this bar by the weight of the slides and tampers and the tension of the tamper springs and as a consequence all the individual levers will swing upwardly or downwardly with a corresponding swinging movement of the lever frame C. The tampers can be held in any position of vertical adjustment by means of a latch 22 fulcruined at 23 on the intermediate arm 20 of the lever frame and ar'anged to engage a notched sector 2% secured to the middle post a, the latch being provided with a handle 25 for facilitating the releasing and locking of the latch. Thus, the lever frame C may be held completely raised so that the lower ends of the tampers will be held above the road-bed when moving the tamping machine from place to place and by engaging the latch in a lower notch the tampers will be supported in working position and when they are in their extreme lower working position the latch will be locked as shown in Fig. 2.

By providing individual levers in the manner described any pair of tampers can be thrown out of operation without interfering with the operation of the other tampers and for this purpose a hook 26 sup ported on the bar 19 on which the levers are fulcrumed and the bill forming pin '2'? of the hooks is adapted to engage in an opening 28 of the link that connects the lever with the slides of each pair of tampers. In Fig. 1 the second lever from the right is shown locked in raised position so that the tampers connected therewith will be rendered inoperative. As shown in Fig. i, the

individual levers 18 are held against lateral movement by the adjacent post & and a spacing sleeve 29 interposed between the lever and the next post 1 and the locking hook 2G is loosely supported on the sleeve 29 so that it can be moved laterally from the full to the dotted line position for locking a pair of tampers out of use.

The mechanism whereby oppositely disposed tampers can be adjusted toward or from each other for adapting them to tamp ties of different widths will now be de scribed. Four of the tampers of each set have their upper ends freely slidable in a horizontal bar 30 which slides laterally on the horizontal cross beams 31 of the carriage and these bars 30 are connected with crank arms 32 secured to horizontal rock shafts 33 supported at opposite sides of the posts 1 by brackets 32-1 secured to the second and fourth post a. The arms 32 have their lower extremities slidably engaged in openings 35 of the slide bars 30 as shown in Fig. 1 and hence as the rock shafts are rocked the bars 30 will move inwardly toward each other or outwardly from each other so as to thereby throw the tamping ends of the tampers near together or farther apart, as shown by the dotted and broken lines in Fig. et. The fifth tamper of each set is moved laterally by a crank arm 36 Fig. 1, that is secured to the rock shaft with its lower end formed into a laterally extending eye 37 disposed in line with the adjacent slide bar 30 and the fifth tamper has its shank slidably engaged in the eye. The reason for not extending the slide bar 30 to engage with the fifth tamper is to accommodate in the space between the extremity of the slide bar 30 and crank arm 36, the reversing mechanism for moving the carriage B bac; and forth transversely on the car. The rock shafts 30 are connected together to move in unison by links 38 connected with upwardly and downwardly extending arms 39 on the respective rock shafts. One of the rock shafts has outwardly extending arms l0 connected by a horizontal bar 41 so as to form a swinging lever that moves over a notched locking bar or segment 12, Figs. 4: and 5. and to be held in any lockedposition by a latch 13 adapted to engage in any notch of the member This latch $3 is fulcrumed at ts on the connecting bar 1'1 and has a handle -15 and operating on the latch is a leaf spring e6 adapted to hold the latch in looking position, the latch being movable on a bracket 47 secured to the bar a1 and carrying a stop as for limiting the releasing movement of the latch. In adj usting the tampers the end of the latch 4-.5 is swung inwardly and while held in this position, the lever frame l()ill is swung upwardly or downiwirdly to throw the tamping ends of the tampers inwardly or outwardly as the conditions require and when they are thus adjusted to the width of the tie the latch is released so as to engage in the nearest notch of the member 42 and thus hold the tampers in set position as they are operated for tamping the ballast.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is 1. A tamping machine comprising a tamper, a slide connected therewith to reciprocate with the movement of the tamper, a link connected with the slide, a lever connected with the link and operating through the same for adjusting the vertical position of the tamper, and a locking device engaging the link for holding the tamper out of operation.

2. A tamping machine comprising a pair of tampers, separate slides connected with the tampers to move therewith, a link arranged to engage both slides, a lever con nected with the link for raising the slides, and a device arranged to engage the link when the lever is raised for holding the tampers inoperative.

3. A tamping machine comprising oppositely disposed tampers, slides connected therewith, a post on which the slides are mounted, means operating on the slides to move the tampers on their upstroke, means for moving the tampers on the tamping stroke, a link having a slot and pin connec tion with each slide, means operating through the link for holding both tampers out of inoperative relation with the first mentioned means, and a device for engaging the link for locking the tampers out of operation.

A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, separately actuated devices for holding any tamper in inoperative position, and a single device ope ating through the first-mentioned devices for adj usting the vertical position of the tampers.

5. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, individual levers operatively connected with the tampers for raising the same, a device for holding any tamper out of operation, and a common lever arranged to operate through the firstmentioned levers for adjusting the vertical position of the tampers.

6. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, a lever connected with each tamper for raising the same, a device for locking each tamper in raised or inoperative position, a lever arranged to engage the first-mentioned levers to operate through the same to raise or lower the tampers simultaneously, and a locking device for holding the last-mentioned lever in different positions of adjustment.

7. A tamping machine comprising a plu rality of tampers, means for actuating the same, individual devices for raising the tampers, and a common device operating through the first-mentioned devices to raise and lower all the tampers simultaneously.

8. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, means for actuating the 4 same, individual devices for raising the tampers, a common device operating through the firstmentioned devices to raise and lower all the tainpers simultaneously, and means for holding the last-mentioned device in different positions of adjustment.

9. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, means for actuating the same, levers mounted on a common axis and separately connected with the tampers for raising and lowering the same, a device on which the levers normally bear and by which they are sin'iultaneously movable for collectively raising or lowering the tampers, and means for holding the device in different po sitions of adjustment.

10. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, means for actuating the tampers, separate levers operatively connected with the tampers and arranged on a common axis, and a single lever swinging on an axis coincident with the common axis of the first-mentioned levers and operating through the latter to collectively raise or lower the tampers.

11. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tempers, means for actuating the tampers, separate levers operatively connected with the tampers and arranged on a common axis, a single lever swinging on an axle coincident with the common axis of the first-mentioned levers and operating through the latter to collectively raise or lower the tampers, and means for holding any tamper out of operation with its lever disengaged from the single lever.

12. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, means for actuating the tampers, separate levers operatively connected with the tampers and arranged on a common axis, a single lever swinging on an axle coincident with the common axis of the firstmentioned levers and operating through the latter to collectively raise or lower the tampers, means for holding any tamper out of operation with its lever disengaged from the single lever, and a latch device for holding the single lever in dilferent positions of adjustment.

13. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides connected with the tampers, means operating on the slides to move the tampers in one direction, separate means for moving the tampers in the opposite direction, levers operatively connected with the slides for raising and lowering the tampers, devices for holding the individual tampers raised, and a single lever with which the first-mentioned levers are normally held in engagement, said single lever being adjustable to different positions for collectively adjusting the tampers.

14. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides connected therewith, supporting posts on which the slides are guided, a rod supported by the posts, levers fulcrumed on the rod, links connect-- ing the levers with the individual tampers, and locking devices mounted on the rod and operating through the links for holding any tamper in inoperative position.

15. A tamping machine com-prising a plurality of tampers, slides connected therewith, supporting posts on which the slides are guided, a rod supported by the posts, levers fulcrumed on the rod, links connecting the levers with the individual tampers, locking devices mounted 011 the rod and operating through the links for holding any tamper in inoperative position, and means operating through all the levers for collectively adjusting the vertical position of the tampers.

16. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides connected therewith, supporting posts on which the slides are guided, a rod supported by the posts, levers fulcrumed on the rod, links connecting the levers with the individual tampers, locking devices mounted on the rod and operating through the links for holding any tamper in inoperative position, a swinging frame connected with the rod and disposed to engage the levers for raising and lowering the tampers, and means for holding the frame in different positions of adjustment.

17. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides connected therewith, guide posts for the slides, said slides having slots, a link for each slide having means engaging in the slot thereof, means for reciprocating the tampers, a mechanism operating through the links for collectively adjusting the tampers, and means adapted to engage any links for holding the tamper connected therewith in inoperative position.

18. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, means for actuating the same, a lever operatively connected with each tamper, a rod forming a common fulcrum for the levers, and devices mounted on the rod for holding any tamper raised.

19. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides operatively connected with the tampers, guide posts for the slides, a rod supported on the posts, a lever mounted on the rod at each post, a sleeve on the rod for engaging each lever to cooperate with the adjacent post to hold the lever in place, a link connecting each lever with a slide, a hook slidable on the sleeves for engaging the links to lock the tampers raised, a single lever connected with the rod, and on which the other levers normally bear for operating through the latter to adjust the position of the tampers, and a latch device for holding the single lever in different positions of adjustment. a 20. A tamping machine comprising a plurality of tampers, slides connected therewith, operating cams, means on the slides with which the cams engage for raising the tampers, springs for moving the tampers on their tamping strokes, guide posts for the slides, said slides having slots in their upper ends and the posts having slots registering with those of the slides, links having their lower extremities engaged in the slots of the slides, and posts, and means operating through the links for raising or lowering the tampers.

21. A tampering machine comprising sets of oppositely disposed tampers, rock shafts movable simultaneously, means for connecting a plurality of tampers of each set with the adjacent rock shaft, separate means for connecting the remaining tampers with the adjacent rock shafts, whereby both sets of tampers are moved inwardly or outwardly toward or from each other, and means for actuating the rock shafts.

22. A tamping machine comprising oppositely disposed sets of tampers, means for actuating the same, a bar engaging certain of the tampers of each set for adjusting the same laterally, a device connected with each bar for shifting the same and also connected with the remaining tamper of the set, and means for simultaneously actuating the devices for moving the tampers toward or from each other collectively.

23. A tamping machine comprising oppositely disposed sets of tampers, an operating rock shaft for each set, a bar engaging a plurality of tampers of each set, means for operatively connecting each bar with one of the rock shafts, a connection independent of the bar between each rock shaft, and the remaining tamper of each set, means for connecting the rock shafts to move together, an actuator connected With one of the rock shafts, and means for holding the actuator in different positions of adjustment.

24:. A tamping machine comprising sets of tampers, means for actuating the tampers, a rock shaft for each set of tampers, a literally movable bar with which a plurality of tampers of each set engage, arms on the rock shafts engaging the bars for shifting the same, additional ari'ns 011 the rock shafts connected with the remaining tampers of each set, and means for actuating the rock shafts simultaneously to operate through the bars and said additional arms to move both sets of tampers simultaneously toward or from each other.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN ILIFF.

Witnesses JEFFREY J. PANER, CHARLES AMMEN. 

